An Inevitable Clash (Annalisa)

[Tallis]

14th Day of Summer, 513AV Wright Memorial Library It had been a while since Tallis had visited the library. He hadn’t actually been there since he had left the College of Scholars, but the place still held a certain nostalgic feeling. Many a long night had been spent studying there until candles and lanterns had burned out. Although he would no longer have access to the heftier tomes on the second tier of the library, that wouldn’t be an issue today. He was here to brush up on some of his long neglected skills. Passing the front desk of the library, Tallis exchanged greetings with the head librarian. He politely declined her offer to help him search, assuring her that he knew what he was looking for and that the head librarian needn’t trouble herself with his small concerns. With the library arranged alphabetically, it wasn’t hard for Tallis to find the aisle he was looking for. “P… Q… R…” Taking a turn, he started scanning the shelves, “Reimancy… Reimancy… more reimancy… and… finally! Shielding!” Scanning the books, the young mage used a random point-and-select method. He took down several thinner volumes that would be used for a casual overview of the magical practice and several thicker tomes were chosen for when he wanted to do some more detailed research. Tallis was always looking for a chance to improve his magical control. Skipping Shielding and Auristics lessons to learn Flux instead had been a major oversight, but he still held onto the hope that it wasn’t too late to make up for it. Recent events had convinced him that learning to fine-tune and control his powers was the best way to keep himself and those around him safe. Dusting off the books and cradling them in his arms, Tallis began his search for a desk to sit at. Preferably somewhere with a window. It was always nice to capitalize on the free light and the view outside was a nice contrast to staring at a page for hours on end. As he was walking down the aisle, he accidentally bumped into someone, causing them to drop whatever it was they were holding. “Terribly sorry!” Tallis rushed to apologize, “Let me help you with that.” Bending down to retrieve whatever it was that the woman had dropped, he was pleasantly surprised to find a book that he was rather familiar with. It was the same guide to Reimancy he had used when he was a student. Handing the book back to the woman, Tallis struck up a conversation. “I remember using that exact book when I was a student. Madam Lisaelis wasn’t too pleased with the notes I’d scrawled in the margins. Maybe you’ll find them useful! It’s always nice to see a student who does extra work outside her classes.”

[Annalisa Marin]

Annalisa was in something of a rush today, she had fallen behind on her reimancy training as of late in favor of worrying about her upcoming Glyphing class. Teaching was a relatively new thing to her so her lesson plan had been something of a priority as of late. Combined with her recent stint of providing scrolls to the Wave Guards she had been quite busy. As such it never hurt to do some light reading. At least that was what she had though when she had picked up "Azelth's Dissertation on the Safe Practices of Reimancy", an extremely dull and dry read but useful as it helped one recall methods to check their limits. Anna had something of an issue in that regard, so here she was. Well, that was what it had been like up until some blind fool bumped into her, knocking the book from her hands. Any good mood she might have been enjoying vanished in a second as a scowl dropped over her face. "Ah, you clumsy petching fool, look what you did!" She exclaimed, her grey eyes narrow and sharp. The man apologized and lifted her book, which she snatched back with a dark glare. The angry dark haired woman might have let the matter rest there and just have stormed off, her day slightly worse. Unfortunately this was not the case, as she caught his little slight at her position. That about destroyed any chance of her good mood. There were few people that would classify Professor Annalisa Marin as nice, at best she was normally irritable. Getting her angry was not difficult, the easiest way by far was to make a real or imagined insult against her person. Calling her a student was high up on the list of insults. "Do I look like a student to you, sir? I am Professor Annalisa Marin, not some untrained novice. I am sure you might find tomes such as this one impressive but this is merely light reading. Now are you going to get out of my way?" Anna said, drawing her self up to her full height. Her potential good day just flew out the window. If this man didn't move or at the very least apologize for his slight, Anna intended to lay quite the curse upon him.

[Tallis]

Tallis had faced off against a void creature and a giant magical shark, an angry woman wasn’t that intimidating, even if she was tall enough to stare him down eye-to-eye. He easily could’ve apologized again and walked away, but something about this woman’s tone and attitude had irked him. After all, he had already apologized for the accident and even picked up her book. He had done the whole gentlemanly act and still this woman was going off on him. And how could Tallis possibly find “Azelth’s Dissertation” to be an impressive read? It was a novice’s book! He had its principles memorized before he could even manipulate his second element. “A ‘professor’ should know not to raise her voice in a library.” Tallis replied. He wasn’t going to let her off easy. In this battle for dominance, he wanted to prove his superiority in rhetoric and magic. “And if you’re reading that, the university must really be lowering its standards by letting someone like you teach its students. If you want a lesson in Reimancy, I’ll bet I could show you a thing or two.” The words came out before Tallis could even stop them. Was he confident that he could take on this woman? Not entirely. She may have been reading a novice’s book, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she wasn’t competent with Reimancy. Despite his earlier statement, he knew that the university only chose the best to teach its students. That was why its reputation was so excellent. Taking on a professor might prove to be a dangerous challenge. However, Tallis suspected that this woman wasn’t a professor of reimancy. After all, most reimancy professors would have either owned their own copy of “Azelth’s Dissertation” or at least have had it completely committed to memory. It was a gamble, but he was willing to bet that Professor Annalisa Marin was not a professor of reimancy. Whatever the case was, Tallis had made his challenge and he wouldn’t back down now.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna's glare was still in place at the man's challenge, though on the inside her mind was going over the possibilities. She knew nothing about this man or his capabilities, in fact he could be a master for all she knew and this would end badly. However he didn't seem to carry himself in a way that commanded fear or respect, not from her anyway. Slowly her glare was replaced with something far more dangerous to be seen from her. A slow and uneasy grin. The young professor knew she could back down, she could play it safe and simply walk away. She could curse him and get her little bit of spite, but that wasn't enough for her. After the build up of the last few days of stress, she needed release and satisfaction. She also wanted to put this fool in his place and ensure that he would never speak ill of her abilities again. He dared to question her prowess? She would be more than glad to test him then. Anna's eyes narrowed slightly, flashing in anger. "I bet that you are a two copper wizard with more bark than bite, I'd be more than glad to put you in your place. Name the time and place." Anna replied evenly. Now he had no choice but to go along with it with the challenge accepted in such a way. He could back down, but that would be admitting that she was the better wizard. She had the feeling the man was going to rise to the challenge, in fact she wanted him too. Anna wanted him to know just how wrong he was to question her abilities. Anna remembered her backpack, it was back at her home. If he accepted the challenge then it would hopefully give her a couple of hours to prepare, otherwise she would need to draw glyphs with other materials. Going in unglyphed after so long would be unwise at it would place her limits much lower than normal. She stared the man down and waited for his reply, flexing her fingers expectantly.

[Tallis]

So Professor Annalisa Marin decided to meet his challenge. To be completely honest, Tallis was surprised. Something seemed off about this woman. Any other person would have apologized, making up an excuse like, “Oh, I’m sorry for the outburst, I wasn’t feeling well.” Professor Marin, however, seemed to be excited. There was a light in her eyes that was rather familiar to Tallis. It was the exhilarating lust for combat. It was a feeling Tallis himself often experienced in the heat of battle, especially when he dipped into the dangerous state of overgiving. Professor Annalisa Marin was not an easy opponent, but neither was Tallis. “Fine. Meet me at the Mirahil Pass in five bells. We’ll settle our argument in the Wildlands to avoid any collateral damage. Hopefully you take the time to prepare yourself. You’re going to need it.” Turning his back on the woman, Tallis went to seek out his favourite seat at the library. Five bells wasn’t exactly an arbitrary number. Tallis was still holding onto his books, and despite his eagerness to battle, he still wanted to finish his studies first. He wondered if he’d be able to concentrate with all of the excitement. 5 bells later Tallis had left the library and was already waiting at the Pass. Despite their altercation, it was still the gentlemanly thing to do to show up early. “She agreed to this, so she better not stand me up.” Tallis muttered to himself, “I don’t have time to waste here.” As he waited, he wondered what the Professor had been doing in the past five bells. Tallis hadn’t done much other than eat a light lunch and study. He was as ready as he was going to be, but perhaps she had a couple tricks up her sleeve. He could imagine a woman of her stature using a weapon, but it seemed unlikely as she had a scholarly profession. However, one could never tell. Tallis hadn’t spent the few chimes waiting idly though. He had come up with a brief idea of the rules for their duel and would present them to Annalisa as soon as she showed up. If things went according to plan, they would negotiate the rules, go through with the fight, and it wouldn’t end too badly. If anything, Tallis would learn a lot from the fight. He didn’t want to drag it out for too long, but he definitely wanted to see everything that the professor was capable of. It would be like a personal one-on-one lesson.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna grinned, not having to worry about collateral damage? A dream come true. The young professor was giddy with anticipation at the prospect of a good sparring match with another reimancer. It was not only a chance to put this man in his place, under her heel, but it would be a good opportunity to get some training in. Already she was beginning to formulate a good strategy to win this thing, it would be tricky but definitely possible to pull off. "Shall be there, rest assured." Anna said turning on her heel to put the book back. With what she had in mind there would been no time for reading, preparation needed to begin immediately. -1 Bell Later- Anna sat in her chair, her boots kicked off to the side with a freshly inked brush in her hands. This was it, her time to prepare for a real fight and not just a practice session. Well, technically it was a practice session, she had no intentions to kill the man just show him what a real professor was capable of. Still, it was wise to take any edge one could find in a match so that their full potential could be shown. Her brush glided carefully over the bottom of her right foot beginning the Focus Glyph. She had some time so she could afford to be as meticulous as possible. This would also be a good time to include Pathway runes in her design. It had been a theory of hers that the smaller pathway runes could increase res generation speed even further. It was worth testing today, if nothing else it would give her more of an edge. Anna quickly finished her first glyph and moved on to placing another focus rune on the bottom of her left foot. The focus' needed to come first, then she would add the pathway runes to her legs and arms. She approached this one with the same care and diligence as the first one, making sure to keep it compact as well to accommodate the pathway runes. She finished her feet quickly enough and quickly got to work on her hands, dipping her brush in the fresh ink as she applied the new Focus Glyphs. Anna smiled as the process came to a close, having taken at least twenty chimes all told. Now came the new part. The young professor started with her right foot and began to circle the focus rune with smaller runes, forming a barrier. She then created a path of small runes up her leg, ending in another barrier. Anna slowly repeated this process on her other leg and on both of her arms. She allowed the ink to dry before standing up. She was ready for this, she could feel it. The Appointed Time Anna strode onto the field, having barely made it in time due to her preparations. Still, here she was indeed, kicking off her boots and facing off against a fellow reimancer. His abilities were unknown but he looked capable enough, this was not going to be easy. Anna strode closer to him, discarding her cloak. "Well, here we are. I never did catch your name, and do you have any rules you wish to set for the engagement?" Anna asked, her eyes narrow and her black hair tied into a ponytail.

[Tallis]

oocI was sort of falling asleep while writing this, so forgive me if it doesn't make sense or doesn't flow to well. Please message me if you need me to edit or clarify things. And there it was. Ungentlemanly action number one: not introducing yourself. How could Tallis forget the simplest act of telling someone who you were? His mother would be ashamed. Then again, his mother would also have had a heart attack if she knew her only son was going to face off against a University Professor in a battle of magic. And after the heart attack, she would be sure to beat him senseless. “The name is Tallis. Former student at the College of Scholars. My professors taught me all they knew, so I left to hone my skills. Maybe you’ll be able to show me something worthwhile.” Annalisa showed promise to be an entertaining opponent. Tallis was utterly confused when she had kicked off her boots. Would her bare feet give her an advantage on the forest floor? He wouldn’t have risked it. All sorts of bugs and insects to step on, not to mention rocks, pebbles, and pointy sticks. And then he noticed the marks. A trail of black markings travelled up her feet to her legs. And looking carefully he noticed that the marks were also inscribed on her hands up to her arms. Were they tattoos? He couldn’t recall seeing them earlier that day. Then again, he hadn’t been paying attention to her limbs. What he had been paying attention to was her aggressiveness. She had barked at him for a while and had shown some un-professorly behavior. However, it seemed that Professor Annalisa Marin’s sharp intelligence came out when challenged. Tallis was glad that, without even being prompted, she had asked to know about the rules. Answering her request, Tallis began to recite the guidelines he had been thinking of while he had waited for her to arrive. “Of course. The rules. We aren’t aiming to kill, as such, this duel has two possible conditions for victory: One, the first to draw blood wins by default. Or two the first to make the opponent admit defeat wins.” It was a formula that had worked out for him in his last duel. Both he and his opponent had left relatively unscathed and unharmed and both of them knew who was superior. However, Tallis had left that duel unsatisfied. He had lost due to a technicality and a cowardly opponent. Annalisa didn’t seem like the type to disappoint though. Her personality was abrasive, but a large part of that was due to her immense sense of pride. She wouldn’t choose to go the coward’s route. “There is a clearing up ahead where we will battle. Feel free to state any other rules or conditions you can come up with while we make our way there.” The clearing was rather large and was probably designed as a resting spot for caravans travelling into Zeltiva. It certainly wasn't designed for duelling mages, but it would serve the purpose quite well. Tallis had chosen the spot so that the two could use reimancy without too much worry. Although, Annalisa would have to be careful is she were a fire reimancer. There was still a chance for sparks to catch and if she couldn't put the fire out, she would be in trouble. In terms of the other elements that one could manipulate with reimancy, the spot was safe. The duel could carry forward without any hitches.

[Annalisa Marin]

A former student at the College? Interesting... Anna mused as she listened to Tallis. This changed her perception of the man before her slightly. He sounded like she had some formal education and if he was speaking the truth about his professors this might be a bigger challenge than she had first thought. He seemed confident, though he appeared to lack glyphing on his body at a brief glance over. Either he was over confident, extremely powerful, or had no knowledge of glyphing. If the latter was true then she might have an advantage here, a slight one but an advantage all the same. Anna nodded slowly at the presentation of the rules, death was not her intention here. She wanted the fool to realize just how mistaken he had been in challenging Annalisa Marin to a duel, to dare question her prowess. She would fight fair, her pride demanded nothing less of her in this situation. Just because she was a Chaon didn't make her a coward or a cheat in matters of proving one's skill. The young professor was ruthless but she possessed some things that kept her in line, her pride being the biggest. She followed Tallis to the clearing in silence already noting the terrain and how to use it to her advantage, as well as the disadvantages present. Fire and Lava were out of the question, too much possibility of causing collateral damage or of things getting out of hand. She would need to stick to earth, though as she entered the clearing she noted that there was plenty to work with here. She strode to one side of the clearing, a slight smile on her face as she turned to face her opponent. "Well, lets get this lesson started, Tallis. Watch closely and you might learn a thing or two." The young professor said. Immediately she started a low chant in Nader Carnoch, mostly just speaking gibberish but using it as her focus as she set about sheathing her hands and feet in res. The translucent liquid played at her skin and the euphoric desire to generate more made itself present as it formed. The speed of the generation was rather startling and Anna noted it was faster with the path runes added to the focus runes. Not instantaneous by any means but still faster than was the norm. She pushed aside the desire to generate more and instead created four small balls of res, grimacing as she struggled to control all four. She attracted nearby rocks and dirt to them, keeping her gaze on her opponent as she concentrated. Hopefully her glyphs would give her an edge speed wise.

[Tallis]

The two mages entered the clearing silently. Anna seemed content with the rules and Tallis was, to be quite frank, glad he didn’t have to argue with her about them. Everything was going according to plan. As Anna turned her back on Tallis and made her way opposite him, he felt the calm and control take over and his sped up heart rate and breath suddenly became a comfortable feeling. His heart wasn’t beating out of fear, quite the opposite in fact. This was the adrenaline rush he had longed for. Anna got straight down to business. As soon as she had turned to face him she was already casting out her res. Tallis reciprocated. Although she stood to far for him to see clearly, Anna seemed to be producing res at a relatively fast rate. In fact, the production seemed fast enough to match his own. Tallis noticed that the res was gathering around her arms and legs, right where she had inked on the patterns. Was it possible that the little shapes and lines were helping her? It seemed like something he had seen back in his university days. Rune-ing? Symbol-ing? No... What was it? Glyphing! Annalisa was using glyphing. Tallis had only ever heard of the magical practice and had never actually seen it in action before. The professor was living up to her promise of showing him something new. However, Annalisa wasn't the only one who knew a bit more than just reimancy. Tallis also had another trick up his sleeve. A trump card of sorts. He wouldn't use it now, but he had come prepared for a strong opponent, and he was getting what he had asked for. Within a fraction of a tick after Annalisa started casting her spell, Tallis began casting his own spell in return. It was a basic formation of res that could easily be transmuted for a quick attack or defense spell. Unsure of which elements Anna had under her control, he chose to see what his opponent had in store before making his actual move. Using his body as a focus, Tallis held his arms in front of him with the index finger and thumb of both hands touching to form a sort of outstretched triangle. Res was gathered into this triangle, streaming from both his right and left arm. The pool of res between his hands was sent swirling, swiftly growing in size and drawing in air from the environment. He had the elements of air and earth at his command, and they were plentiful here. “Ladies first!” Tallis exclaimed, not quite shouting, but guaranteeing that Annalisa could hear him from across the clearing, "Show me what you've got!" It was a tiny bit of psychological warfare. Knowing Annalisa’s personality, he knew she could be easily provoked. And if she went on the offensive and used her repertoire of spells, he would be able to take stock of her abilities and rapidly form counter maneuvers. Of course, she could also be the type who gained a warrior-like focus in battle. It was a gamble, but the spell Tallis was casting allowed him to move between the offensive and defensive as necessary. Of course, more importantly, letting her go first was the gentlemanly thing to do.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna's eyes narrowed at his taunt, it was a goad an attempt to make her lose her concentration. She knew this and it sent a flash of anger through her mind beneath the urge to keep casting. The young Professor pushed down her feelings and settled with a contemptuous glare leveled at Tallis. She was not going to lose this fight, however caution was the best thing to show here, which was why her casting was being kept conservative and small. As she drew the earth to her res she noted that the speed of his casting was impressive, clearly he was no novice. Would that she had another day to prepare then she could have created a scroll or two for this fight. Anna engulfed and covered her four small balls of res with the drawn earth and willed two to shoot forth towards Tallis, they exited her zone of control quickly shot for their target. This was all about testing his defenses and seeing what elements he could manipulate. She needed to know what he could do in order to defeat him, knowing the enemy was the key to success. Still it was also wise to keep the enemy on their toes so she was already working on preparing her next attack. The next two she began to shape up into a cone like shape as her first earth projectiles moved to their target. The young professor grimaced slightly, feeling the toll of this casting. She still had a ways to go before she was in danger of overgiving but the urge was very strong to put everything she had out all at once. Still, her two focus' were keeping the urge relatively in check though the adrenaline rush she was getting from this fight was certainly strong. As much as she focused on shaping up her res she focused on Tallis' casting, watch to see his response.